Social Question

Who in America will benefit from a government shutdown?

Republicans, mainly the new Tea Party caucus in the House of Representatives, seem determined to either defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or refuse to raise the debt ceiling. If we do not raise the debt ceiling, that means the US Government will not be able to meet the budgetary obligations the Congress has already set for it. Bond rating agencies will certainly lower our credit rating if that happens, meaning the cost of interest on our debt will shoot up. Who wins from all this? Is it just that Tea Partiers are mad as Hell, and determined to shoot themselves in the foot to prove it? Or is there some sinister group that will benefit from the suffering they inflict on the rest of the country?

There is a Conservative Bias that thinks that America will benefit from shutting down our government. And by Conservative, I mean both the Tea Party Members & the Republicans who are doing their best to cut away the last of Social Safety Nets that help those who have hit rock bottom. It will be a Disaster for America if the Tea Party Members & the Republicans can actually manage to shut down our government… these people do not comprehend the math & they have no idea of the consequences of shutting down our government.

The Tea Party will win because this is what they want; if America won’t run the way they want it, it must be destroyed. So whether we swing far enough to the Right to make Glen Beck look liberal, become a Third World nation, or just go down in flames, they win.

I think their hope is that one or two generations from now, Americans will benefit.

I think the assumption is that there is a segment of contemporary Americans who are so narcissistic as to have no problem going to sleep at night knowing that they are leaving the future generations with a big IOU.

It is sort of like gangs in South Chicago imagining that they can kill today, and not fuck up the next generation of kids.

Stupid is as stupid does.

But, some people are not comfortable with that. Some people can not look at children and know that they will look upon us as morons and selfish hedonists.

Some people, not me in case it matters, but some people think the only way to make the point is to “shut down the government”

Naturally, the government will never shut down. They may pay a couple of bills a couple of days late, they may allow flights to be delayed, they may withhold funding for military projects that investigate telepathy and other silly shit, but they will never delay their own salary, and they will never shut down and go home. Because if they did that, they would “lose” and that would be a bad signal to send to the confused losers who adore them.

I have said it before. What can you say about a generation of people (In this case, the Boomers, and the post civil rights black victim industry) who spend their parents money, and then borrow more to keep the party going. And then argue how to best make their kids pay the bill. I think it is disgusting.

@jerv I honestly don’t understand why, no matter which party is in power, no one will take responsibility for their actions! They pass the buck on to some fly by nite group, and people buy it?! It’s ridiculous!

Seriously though, the Tea Party has weakened and embarrassed the Republican party to where the Democrats have less credible opposition than they used to while simultaneously being obstructionist to the detriment of the nation as a whole. It used to be that the two parties would at least negotiate and use the excuse that they have not yet reached an agreement rather than publicly state that compromise is weakness and take the nation hostage as has been done in recent years. And given that they are still around, I wouldn’t classify the Tea Party as “fly by night” the way Perot’s presidential aspirations were.

A dangerous bluffing game. Nothing new. The debt ceiling always gets risen… For something new why not have the government pay more than the minimum payment on its debts…In Alberta we paid a 40 billion dollar debt and saved some money (12 billion dollars) ,for a rainy day.. (which we are burning up at a fantastic rate).

Shut down the government is a sound bite. When our legislators bray it, they are telling their constituents that “they mean business”. Like @talljasperman said, it seems like a bluffing game, I just hope the newly elected tea-partiers know the proper way to play that game (exchanging of political capital).

The Tea Party wants smaller government. They will cause the Government to downsize, which will be an immediate victory, but when people stop getting their social security, and airport security becomes slower, and many of the things we need government for stop happening, the people will become angry, and blame the Tea Baggers.

My feelings on this are too strong for me to jump in and derail my own thread. I’ll just note that before posting this today, I searched Bing and Google for an answer, and there were none. There are games where everybody loses. This seems on of those.